XC Countdown: Alyssa Aldridge of Mainland Regional

Interviewed 7/25/2017
116 days until the Meet of Champions

Q. You have already achieved what most runners dream of, where do you go from here?

I'm hoping to qualify back out for Footlocker Nationals in San Diego and hopefully to improve my placing there, maybe top 10 if all goes well.  I want to improve my Holmdel time to maybe a 17:45, and just stay happy and healthy and enjoy my last cross country season.

Q. Are there any specific races or competitors you are looking to race your last cross country season?

I'm taking everything in stride and looking at individual races as they come.  Cross country is my absolute favorite season, so it's bittersweet to see this as my last season.  I'm really looking forward to all my races, postseason in particular.  There are just so many good girls to run against in New Jersey, but I try not to focus on them as much as I do myself.  I can't control what anyone else does, so I just stay in my mind and realize what I have to do and focus on myself and let the race play out and whatever happens happens.

Q. What are some obstacles you had to overcome in your career?

Last season I had to get out of my own head and try not to be so hung up on trying to repeat everything I've done.  I think I've kind of had a target on my back, but I feel as if it's in my own head.  I'm trying to overcome that by saying that I'm blessed to have that target because I've been successful in the past.  That's something that has been new to me, when people say "Oh, she won Meet of Champs last year, she has to do it again".  It's something that I'll also face again this season, but it's also a driving force behind my training to keep working and to not give up because I know how special and rare those moments are.  It's something that I have to get over; it kind of seems like something that wouldn't be so bad to have, but it can be troubling at times.

Q. How is your summer training going?

I had 2 weeks off after nationals and started building up slowly.  I'm still building my base up right now and gearing up for the long season ahead.  I like to keep my mileage low and I'm bumping it up just a little this summer, but I'm really into cross training.

Q. What kind of cross training do you do?

I'm on my local swim team so I supplement a lot of my cardio there.  I practice for about an hour 3 days a week.  I think it helps me stay injury free, fresh, and ready to keep grinding away at the season.  I'm also part of an injury prevention group led by ex New Jersey runner and former MOC winner Brittany Sedberry.  We'll work on the muscles that you don't activate while running to keep your body in line and stable.  I've thankfully have never had any major injuries so far, but knock on wood.  I'm hoping to make it through high school and hopefully college without anything serious.

Q. When does the intensity of your workouts go up?

We'll start some tempos around August.  We definitely don't want to rush into anything, especially because cross county is such a long season.  I'm looking forward to doing some more intense stuff, but I'm definitely taking it pretty slow.

Q. How are you planning on racing this season?

This season I'm going to be racing less, with senior year and college and stuff like that. Going out and visiting schools is going to take away from some of my racing.  That'll be new to me this year, but I'm looking forward to racing Holmdel especially.  It's my favorite course and it's where my heart is.  The atmosphere is unbelievable there; it's the pinnacle of New Jersey cross country.

Q. How do you feel last year went?

Cross country was very successful last season, I achieved all my goals, and winning Footlocker Northeast Regional was an unexpected win, so that was really exciting for me.  Going into track season I had taken a lot of time off, so I was starting slow.  A lot of things happened and it just wasn't quite the season I was looking for, but I did improve a lot of my PRs which I was thrilled about.  But at the end of the season it didn't go exactly how I'd hoped, but everything is a learning experience and it lit a fire back in my stomach to come back out this year strong.